


Salt

by Scedasticity



Series: Alchemy [6]
Category: Shadow Unit
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 21:19:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scedasticity/pseuds/Scedasticity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>December, 2010.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Salt

Back before their parents split up, when they used to visit their grandparents regularly, they used to fly. (Fred can actually vaguely remember baby Bertie's look of intense concentration that lasted their entire flight. Their mother had suspected a digestive problem, but in hindsight, Bertie must have been smelling the jet fuel.) And there'd been a bit of a drive at the other end, but either someone would pick them up or they'd get a taxi.

And, yeah, from the perspective of someone who has to pay for stuff, the taxi ride looks like _ouch_. But the plane? It's a five-hour drive. More if conditions are bad. So he's not quite sure why Lexy decides their first Christmas trip to their grandparents in over a decade has to be a _road trip_.

"Chloe's driving," is her first explanation.

"Yeah, _Chloe's_ going on from there to a couple weeks at home with her parents. And she's used to it."

"And if one person can do it, three certainly can."

"Yeah, three _adults_ \-- at least physically. My back seat has no legroom, I happen to know for a fact that Alby pitches food wrappers back in hers at least once a week and hasn't cleaned it since September--"

"That's not the only--"

He holds up a hand -- there's a reason he left Lexy's car for last. "And even you admit you don't think the Prius is good for winter driving!" Ha!

"Actually I was thinking we could rent a car," she counters.

Damn.

"What's Alby think?" he tries, without a lot of hope.

At the kitchen table, Alby looks up from her bowl of instant oatmeal. "I think I need help picking out presents."

So a few weeks later they pile into a bright red SUV with a black garbage bag of presents, and Fred doesn't bother to suppress the Santa Claus jokes. It's not until he starts singing 'Over the river and through the woods' that he loses his front-seat privileges, though.

"Do you think he knows ability to act does not equal ability to sing?" Alby asks in a faux-whisper as she adjusts the front passenger seat.

Yes, he does, thank you very much. He probably should have held off on the needling until they were out of metro-area traffic, but at least this way Lexy is unlikely to try to make him spot license plates or anything. He listens to his ipod instead, or stares out the window.

He's mostly asleep when Alby throws a pop bottle over her shoulder, but that wakes him up, in time to clearly hear her hiss at Lexy.

"Just say it, would you? I _know_ already!"

"Know what?"

"What you've been _angsting_ about telling me for the past-- I know about Jim Meisner, all right?"

Who?

**********

It had taken Cynthia Tate about two days to decide all of Brad's sins could be laid at the feet of the Meisner boy, and she would not be persuaded otherwise -- not that anyone tried very hard. Brad didn't try at all. He regretted losing Jim, but he'd always known Meisner was going nowhere, and his parents were the ones that were paying to try to _fix_ his _eyes_. He did tell his uncle that Jim had enough dirt on him it would probably be a good idea to try to keep him out of trouble, too.

*

Brianna Pederson will always remember Jim Meisner as one of the boys who ruined her party and got her grounded for _months_ , although (to the best of her knowledge) the police arrived before anyone knew anything had happened, so it wasn't _really_ fair to blame Brad and Jim, not exactly. But it's not like she really liked Jim anyway, he just seemed to have lots of friends.

Marissa Pederson ("Yeah, Bri's my sister. Don't rub it in.") has described Jim's acid burns more times than she could count, but she can't remember his face. (She remembers Bradley's face. The 'after' version. She hadn't been lurking in the hall near the paramedics very long when the cops spotted her and made her leave the room, but it was plenty long enough to remember.)

*

The Hillview Area High School guidance counselor for students with last names L-Z remembers Meisner, James grudgingly agreeing to do the make-up work necessary to pass English. He hadn't been at all gracious, but at least he'd agreed. Less than a month later was the acid incident, and then Meisner, James never came back.

*

Doctor Brian Lewis can't think of Jim Meisner without cringing. It's not just because of the nature of his injuries, although those are bad enough. Severe chemical burns to the genitals aren't something you see every day. (Fortunately.) More than that, it's the look on his face when Brian had to tell him they'd reached the limits of treatment. The only things that might -- _might_ \-- help were time, and possibly some nonstandard therapies which insurance probably would not cover. The scarring was bad, and the only sensitivity returning was pain.

Bad enough for any guy, but Jim was twenty -- only eighteen when he was first hurt. It had to feel like his world was ending.

*

_Beeeep._

"Dr. Reyes? This is Alexandra Aldrich. Ah, I'm not sure if you've heard this... or if you're interested in it -- you don't _need_ to be interested in it, but I thought I'd tell you in case you hadn't heard it -- Jim Meisner hanged himself last week."

 

**********

"How did you find out?"

"How'd _you_ find out?"

"What happened to him?"

"Just answer the question!"

"Facebook, actually--"

"You're barely on Facebook!"

"Just because I don't think you can be friends with zeroes and ones--"

"Apparently I'm not friends with the right zeroes and ones, because I still don't know what you're talking about."

"He killed himself. And I check Facebook once a month out of -- morbid curiosity. So how'd _you_ find out, Lexy? No, let me guess -- you've friended the school counselors and they were bemoaning an ex-student--"

"Not social media, news."

"What?"

"I've had a search running for any news articles about Meisner _or_ Tate, just in case."

"Just in case what? And Tate who?"

"Oh, and did Brad's plastic surgery make the news?"

"No. I would imagine they've actually had the sense to try to avoid media attention, since they dodged all the consequences--"

"Hey, I still don't know who Jim Meisner is!"

"You didn't tell him?"

" _You_ didn't tell him?"

**********

Lexy is probably worried that they'll suspect Alby is somehow involved. They don't. Two years after the fact, with no trigger, is not Alby's style, and her manifestation is a known quantity. Maybe if Meisner had been killed by poisoning or an overdose in a public place shortly after bumping into Alby, but as it is, no. Jim Meisner died alone in his room, having hanged himself.

Unfortunately, that raises an entirely _different_ set of concerns.

"A competent medical examiner should be able to distinguish between hanging and ligature strangulation," Chaz says after a moment.

"That's true."

"But it might not hurt to make sure."

Reyes nodded. "Look over the reports, see if anything seems strange. Chances are even if there is, the trail will be cold. But..."

But.

**********

Jim Meisner never moved out of his parents' house -- never did much of anything after his injury. One exception was his move to claim sole ownership of the room and Playstation he had previously shared with his younger brother. It was still nominally Mike's room, too, but Jim started snarling at him when he made any noise at all, so he mostly moved in with the still-younger Davey, Nicky, and Jeffy. This wasn't popular with any of them, especially as Davey had been planning his move into Mike's room as soon as Jim left for since the start of Jim's senior year.

_"It gets... better._

The oldest and youngest siblings were girls, Jessica and Courtney. Jessica had moved out to live with her boyfriend in an apartment. Her mother hoped they would get married; her father said the boyfriend was a good-for-nothing and Jessica shouldn't be stupid enough to be near him; Jim insisted on calling the boyfriend her 'pimp' and frequently told the younger siblings that their sister was a skank.

Jim was relatively good with the two youngest, Courtney and Jeffy. He was willing to babysit occasionally, and help with their gerbils, and offer advice on their backyard fort. One time he walked them to the bus stop to yell at some older boys who'd been making Courtney cry.

_"This is just speculation, but I think it might have had to do with the younger kids not-- I'll back up."_

Jim Meisner sustained scarring from the chemical burns to his genitals which makes it unlikely that he was able to masturbate or experience arousal without pain. To his parents' knowledge, he had no sexual partners after his injury, a stark contrast to his prior behavior.

_"Apparently the quote is, 'He used to score twice a week.' Knowing what we know... Anyway, Jim and his siblings. The next-oldest is dating, the one after that has girls on the brain, and the one after that is definitely hitting puberty, but the youngest boy and the little girl are still children -- nothing to envy."_

He completed what rehabilitative treatment there was shortly before aging off his mother's insurance policy, but was still prescribed heavy painkillers. His parents paid for these for several months, but sometime in early November, his father announced they were cutting him off. There were alcohol-influenced altercations. After a few weeks, Jim seemed to calm down and stopped threatening to sell his parents' belongings.

On November 22, 2010, two years after his injury, Jim was home alone with Courtney; the boys were out playing hockey. He called something in response when they said they were leaving. Courtney was watching television. About two hours later, Meisner's mother returned home, and sent Courtney to ask Jim whether he would be joining them for supper. Despite an attempt to wedge the bedroom door closed with a chair, Courtney was able to get in. She found Jim hanging in the closet by a belt.

_"So the short version is, there's no reason to believe Jim Meisner didn't kill himself. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for him."_

_"A sad end to a misspent life."_

**********

They're late to their grandparents'. Lexy won't argue while driving and refuses to allow anyone else to drive while arguing, and it's too cold to sit in a stopped car for very long (because Lexy won't idle to engine, either), so they end up in the corner of a McDonald's, hissing at each other between Alby's periodic trips to the counter to order still more food.

Short version: Fred's upset because no one told him his baby sister was attacked. The other two are swinging between saying he didn't need to know and claiming it was the other one's role to tell him. (While he thinks _someone_ should have told him, he can see both sides of the argument for who should have done it. It's Alby's business, and Alby's choice who she wants to tell -- but Lexy's been the arbiter of need-to-know for a long time now.) At the end of it, nothing's been settled, but at least they've cleared the air a little and Fred knows _something_ about what happened.

When they finally get there, they blame the delay on Lexy's over-cautious driving being even more over-cautious than usual.

**********

_The good part of Fred finding out about the... thing is that it distracted you from worrying about seeing your grandparents. They're not as pathological-perfectionist_ insane _as your mother, but they have Expectations, and you know, you_ know _they've been looking at you askance since Lexy's graduation, if not earlier. Lexy's tried to tell you you're imagining things. Fred's tried to say he has the same issue -- which, yeah, they'd probably rather he'd done better in school, but they accept that Fred has an 'artistic temperament' and excels in his own fields. Chloe ignored your complaints for fifteen minutes, before finally cracking and saying you were probably right, but "You could take up stealing cars and become a Scientologist and they'd blame your mother somehow."_

_That was... kind of reassuring._


End file.
